Executive Summary
As the second-largest state-led virtual school in the country, North Carolina Virtual Public School (NC Virtual) supports more than 50,000 course enrollments with a relatively small staff. With a broad catalog of online courses and a commitment to accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), NC Virtual needed a scalable way to create engaging course experiences, maintain consistency, and ensure accessibility across its courses.
Using DesignPLUS and UDOIT Advantage from Cidi Labs, NC Virtual can build interactive, accessible courses directly in the Canvas LMS, reduce reliance on manual accessibility review, and streamline course development across its master course catalog. Together, the tools help the institution:
Accessibility and UDL are foundational to NC Virtual’s course-design process. But putting those principles into practice across a large course catalog presented a challenge.
“The fact that we operate at scale is itself part of the challenge,” said Darlene Schaefer, Instructional Designer at NC Virtual. “We are a large organization with many teachers and more than 50,000 enrollments, but we generally have a small [instructional design] staff.”
NC Virtual builds master courses that are copied each term into individual teacher sections. Previously, the organization used an external lesson-authoring tool that required a SCORM integration to bring content into Canvas, creating challenges with its Canvas Blueprint process.
Accessibility review was also highly manual. Staff inspected courses piece by piece, checking images, alternative text, heading structures, tables, and other elements, some of which can be difficult to evaluate through visual review alone.
One of the primary reasons NC Virtual chose Cidi Labs was the ability to create content directly within Canvas.
Using DesignPLUS, the team can add interactive features such as Accordions, Tabs, Flashcards, and Quick Checks without relying on an external authoring platform.
“With Cidi Labs, we can design directly in Canvas and include interactive features such as Quick Checks, tabs, and accordions,” Schaefer said. “We can create an interactive experience for students while keeping everything inside the Canvas environment.”
DesignPLUS templates give NC Virtual a consistent foundation for building courses. Subject-matter experts can focus on developing content aligned with academic standards while the instructional design team determines how that material should be structured and presented.
This approach has also made handoffs more effective. As content writers have become familiar with DesignPLUS templates and structures, they have learned to organize material in ways that make it easier to transfer into finished Canvas courses.
“The DesignPLUS [QuickStart] Wizard allows us to apply a particular look without repeatedly copying content or code,” Schaefer said. “That ease of use makes DesignPLUS particularly useful for scaling.”
DesignPLUS also helps NC Virtual move beyond simply placing text on a Canvas page. Tabs, Accordions, and dropdowns help organize information and manage cognitive load, while Quick Checks allow students to practice and assess their understanding as they progress through a lesson.
“When students can click, touch, and move through material rather than simply read content on a page, they are more likely to engage,” Schaefer said.
The tools also help NC Virtual provide students with different ways to demonstrate learning. Tabs and Accordions can organize multiple assignment options – such as video, visual, or other creative responses – without overwhelming students with information.
Accessibility is incorporated throughout NC Virtual’s development process, with content writers and designers applying accessibility best practices as courses are created using DesignPLUS. UDOIT Advantage provides an additional review before that process is complete.
“At the end of the course-design process, UDOIT acts almost like a final stopgap,” Schaefer said. “It allows us to review the course and catch issues that may remain.”
Instead of relying solely on manual review, the team can scan courses for accessibility concerns, identify recurring issues, and even apply bulk fixes. Those patterns can also reveal where additional guidance or coaching may be needed, helping improve the process upstream.
When NC Virtual recently revised approximately 30 world-language courses across nine languages, UDOIT Advantage identified concerns that would have been difficult to detect manually.
DesignPLUS supports those accessibility goals proactively, allowing NC Virtual to create visually engaging pages with proper heading structures and keyboard-accessible interactive elements right from the start.
“It creates a strong blend of visual appeal and accessibility,” Schaefer said.
For NC Virtual, the value of DesignPLUS and UDOIT Advantage extends beyond individual course features. Together, the tools have helped create a scalable and sustainable approach to course design and accessibility.
DesignPLUS helps the team build interactive courses directly in Canvas, reuse templates and design structures, and streamline the path from subject-matter expertise to finished course content. UDOIT Advantage reduces reliance on time-consuming manual accessibility review while helping the team identify problems across courses and focus its efforts where they are needed.
That efficiency is particularly important for an organization supporting over 50,000 enrollments with a small instructional design staff.
For institutions facing similar challenges, Schaefer summarized the value simply, “I would recommend it to a small team trying to do big things.”
About North Carolina Virtual Public School
North Carolina Virtual Public School is a state-led supplemental online learning program serving students and school districts throughout North Carolina. Its broad catalog of courses is supported by certified teachers and helps students meet a variety of academic and graduation needs.
About Cidi Labs
Cidi Labs creates innovative, easy-to-use tools that help institutions get more from Canvas. From course design and accessibility to content management and student success, its solutions help educators and instructional designers work more efficiently, create better learning experiences, and scale best practices across their institutions.
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